This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

L.A. Lakers buoyed by return of coach Luke Walton

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Basketball seems fun again for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now done with the seemingly never-ending farewell tour of Kobe Bryant, infused with the enthusiasm of a new coach with ties to the last time the franchise was relevant and buoyed by a talented young group of players, the Lakers are turning the corner more quickly than many had expected.

Everything is relative, of course, and the Lakers were just 4-4 going into a Thursday night game in Sacramento against the Kings but considering where they were, they’ve made quantum leaps.

Consider:

• The Lakers have as many wins in eight games as they did in 25 last season.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

• They throttled the Golden State Warriors last week, handing them their third loss of the season, a couple of months before the Western Conference champions lost three times last season.

• They are treating the usual star-studded home fans — including Drake for the Warriors game — to success, having gone 3-1 at the Staples Center.

• The last time they were above .500 this late in the season was Dec. 3, 2013, when they were 10-9.

Heady times indeed.

“It does seem to have come together, and everybody pulls for each other, and Luke is the ring leader,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told USA Today this week.

A lot of the credit is being given to coach Luke Walton, who rejoined the franchise he played for after learning at the feet of Steve Kerr in Golden State.

Walton has found a way to connect with young players like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and rookie Brandon Ingram that’s brought out the best in them early in the season.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

They have a disparate offence — five players have led the team in scoring. They aren’t forcing a heavy load on kids who might not be able to handle it — six players have played the most minutes in the first eight games. “He has our back,” was how Randle put it to USA Today.

“He’s in charge,” Kupchak said of Walton. “I wouldn’t say he’s easygoing. He knows what he wants, and he’ll enforce whatever it takes to get what he wants to get on the court.

“He’s got a little bit more of an edge than I thought. I knew, as a competitor and as a player, he had the edge. But he does have a little bit more of an edge as a coach than I thought he would’ve.”

Things could still go off the rails for the Lakers, the first eight games of any season are hardly a big enough sample size to suggest they are fully back.

But given where they were in the last two seasons when the chugged along on Bryant’s coattails when he wasn’t hurt and other veterans tried to maintain their grasp on significant roles, the Lakers do seem to be doing things the right way.

-

It’s early but . . .

The sample size is small and there are months for a turnaround but things are ugly in Boston, where the flavor-of-the-month Celtics are not living up to their billing as the ascendant team in the East.

They were drubbed 118-93 by the Washington Wizards — out-rebounded by an astonishing 54-31 margin — and fell to 3-4 on the season. Al Horford is out under the NBA’s concussion protocol and the signature Boston style is absent.

“One thing I think is, we’re not the hardest-playing team no more,” said guard Isaiah Thomas. “I think that’s what made us special, that’s what made us good, is us playing harder than the other team, being more scrappier, getting all the loose balls.”

That’s some crowd

Off to the most torrid start in Raptors history, DeMar DeRozan is running in some pretty impressive company. The NBA’s leading scorer hung 37 points on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, the sixth time in Toronto’s first seven games he’s topped 30 points.

The only other two players in league history to do that: Bernard King in 1990-91 with the Washington Bullets and Michael Jordan with the 1986-87 Chicago Bulls.

Finding his shot

Andrew Wiggins came to the NBA known primarily for his astonishing athleticism, the next great dunker, people thought.

While he still has those abilities, his game has expanded of late. In two games this week, a Wolves loss to Brooklyn and a win over Orlando, Wiggins made eight three-pointers as part of a 65-point, 12-rebound, eight-assist couple of nights. The three-pointers and the rebounds are most impressive and show an increased ability to impact a game other than getting to the rim.

Paying a visit

The Cleveland Cavaliers stopped by the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to be feted by President Barack Obama for the NBA championship they won last June.

It’s a tradition that championship teams in all major North American sports get an audience with the president but given the political climate this week, what does the future hold?

According to a Snapchat comment from Cleveland’s Richard Jefferson, not much.

“Words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House,” Jefferson said.

Last NBA team, maybe. But there is sure to be a movement to get the World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the same room with Obama before the President departs in January.

The other guys

The Lakers might be one of the early-season surprises but they are a long way from being legitimate contenders; the same can’t be said for the team that shares the Staples Center with them.

The Los Angeles Clippers began play Thursday night with the best record in the league, 7-1, and there’s a sense something special is brewing there according to coach Doc Rivers, who knows a thing or two about special teams from his time in Boston.

“They’re just playing,” he said. “It’s really a no-nonsense group. They get along, they understand their roles, and they buy into it. They can argue and laugh two minutes later. It’s just a good spirit.”

Change afoot

Already. In New York, where the Knicks are stumbling along trying to find themselves.

The latest uproar came this week when it was leaked that former head coach Kurt Rambis, who was kept on staff when New York hired Jeff Hornacek in the summer, was given responsibility for the team’s shaky defence. Given that Rambis’s teams in Minnesota historically ranked in the bottom quarter of team defence when he was the head coach there, the move was a head-turner.

“Whether we’re comfortable with it or not, it is what it is and we’ve got to buy into it,” Carmelo Anthony said, hardly a ringing endorsement.

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com